Artwork for podcast Decoding Digital
Decoding Xaas: How to Rethink Business Models to Drive Value and Innovation
Episode 2724th August 2021 • Decoding Digital • AppDirect
00:00:00 00:31:51

Share Episode

Shownotes

Is digital transformation essential in a modern business? David Sovie, Senior Managing Director, and Vik Viniak, Managing Director and Senior Partner at Accenture, believe that with transformation comes growth. In this episode, Vik and David discuss why digital business models are critical for success and how companies can rethink their own products and services.

Press play to hear David Sovie and Vik Viniak’s thoughts on…

Improving Products by Making Them Platforms

"The reality is that the Tesla car that you have today is actually a better car than three years ago. In the history of the world, that's never been true. It's only when you can have this kind of what I like to call 'evergreen' meaning, it's a continually upgradeable platform that you can actually improve features and functionality over time." —David Sovie

The Importance of Persistence

“Once you're on this journey, you're all in and you have to stay patient and you have to stay persistent on the journey. You can't just turn around in six months and say these things are not happening fast enough because to turn around a ship, it takes time.” —Vik Viniak 

Partnering for Success

“I'm a firm believer that you've got to build your ecosystem. You’ve got to pick the right partners. And then you’ve got to go all in, whether it's to build a product, whether it's to scale or whether it's to drive growth in the market.” —Vik Viniak

Transcripts

Speaker:

This is not a small little tweak

Speaker:

to your business. It is a

Speaker:

fundamental transformation of

Speaker:

your business model, and it

Speaker:

needs to be board- and CEO-

Speaker:

sponsored, and you need to think

Speaker:

holistically, because it impacts

Speaker:

every single process. It impacts

Speaker:

how you develop products, how

Speaker:

you market them, how you sell

Speaker:

them, how you service them.

Speaker:

Once you're on this journey,

Speaker:

you're all in. You have to stay

Speaker:

patient and you have to stay

Speaker:

persistent on this journey. You

Speaker:

can't just turn around in six

Speaker:

months and say these things are

Speaker:

not happening fast enough

Speaker:

because to turn around a ship,

Speaker:

it takes time.

Speaker:

This episode of "Decoding

Speaker:

Digital" is going to be a little

Speaker:

bit different. Instead of

Speaker:

interviewing one guest, I sit

Speaker:

down with two of the foremost

Speaker:

experts in digital business

Speaker:

models, David Sovie, and Vik

Speaker:

Viniak. In their roles as

Speaker:

managing directors at Accenture,

Speaker:

both David and Vik have played

Speaker:

an integral part in helping

Speaker:

companies around the world

Speaker:

develop digital transformation

Speaker:

strategies and put them into

Speaker:

action. Based in Chicago, Vik

Speaker:

leads Accenture's electronics

Speaker:

and high-tech industry practice

Speaker:

within North America, where he

Speaker:

focuses on using analytics and

Speaker:

AI to drive business

Speaker:

transformation. He has extensive

Speaker:

experience in Industry X.,

Speaker:

supply chain organization design,

Speaker:

and other complex areas. David

Speaker:

is based in Japan. He is

Speaker:

Accenture's global high-tech

Speaker:

industry lead. He is responsible

Speaker:

for driving the high-tech

Speaker:

industry growth, thought

Speaker:

leadership, client portfolio,

Speaker:

and market positioning. David is

Speaker:

an expert in rethinking

Speaker:

traditional business models. In

Speaker:

2019, he released a book on the

Speaker:

topic called "Reinventing the

Speaker:

Product -- How to Transform Your

Speaker:

Business and Create Value in the

Speaker:

Digital Age." In this episode,

Speaker:

David and Vik talk about why

Speaker:

digital business models are so

Speaker:

critical for success and what

Speaker:

companies can do to start

Speaker:

rethinking their own products

Speaker:

and services for the future of

Speaker:

commerce. This is Daniel Saks,

Speaker:

co-CEO of AppDirect. It's time

Speaker:

to decode everything as a

Speaker:

service.

Speaker:

Welcome to Decoding Digital, a

Speaker:

podcast for innovators looking

Speaker:

to thrive in the digital economy.

Speaker:

I'm your host, Daniel Saks. I'll

Speaker:

sit down with other founders,

Speaker:

CEOs, and change-makers to

Speaker:

decode the trends that are

Speaker:

transforming the way we work.

Speaker:

Let's decode. David, Vik,

Speaker:

welcome to Decoding Digital.

Speaker:

Super excited today to profile

Speaker:

both of your work on as-a-

Speaker:

service business models. As

Speaker:

we've discussed on Decoding

Speaker:

Digital, the importance of

Speaker:

digital transformation is really

Speaker:

critical for our customer

Speaker:

success. It's not just about

Speaker:

the technology, but it's also

Speaker:

about the business models that

Speaker:

allow business customers to

Speaker:

easily consume the services that

Speaker:

we're providing. David, I know

Speaker:

you actually wrote a book

Speaker:

focused on as-a-service models

Speaker:

called Reinventing the Product.

Speaker:

I was really excited about the

Speaker:

book and the content, but wanted

Speaker:

to double-click on which

Speaker:

companies have exceeded it

Speaker:

reinventing their products, and

Speaker:

how have they done that through

Speaker:

the innovation of business

Speaker:

models.

Speaker:

Yeah, absolutely. First, thank

Speaker:

you for having Vik and I on your

Speaker:

podcast. We're super delighted

Speaker:

to be here. I'll give you a

Speaker:

preamble then answer your

Speaker:

question. I always talk a little

Speaker:

bit about why now? Why now our

Speaker:

company is talking about

Speaker:

reinventing the business model

Speaker:

to as-a-service? What's

Speaker:

different now? First, it starts

Speaker:

with the fact you have to

Speaker:

acknowledge that to have an as-a-

Speaker:

service model, at least a

Speaker:

compelling one, you need a

Speaker:

product that's smart, with

Speaker:

enough processing power,

Speaker:

connected at a high enough

Speaker:

bandwidth, and ideally AI-

Speaker:

enabled. The reality is even

Speaker:

five years ago, most of that was

Speaker:

not possible. Without 4G, and

Speaker:

now soon 5G networking, you

Speaker:

didn't have the bandwidth, power,

Speaker:

and processors, used to need to

Speaker:

have a $500 or a $1,000 device

Speaker:

to have enough processing power

Speaker:

to have a really smart product.

Speaker:

Related to processing power is

Speaker:

the sensors, because to really

Speaker:

be smart, you need sensors on a

Speaker:

product. The reality today is

Speaker:

sensors cost pennies. You can

Speaker:

get processing power for pretty

Speaker:

inexpensive along with the

Speaker:

connectivity. As the world

Speaker:

moves to smart, connected

Speaker:

products, then the logical

Speaker:

question a lot of companies ask

Speaker:

is, "Do I sell this as a product

Speaker:

or do I, when it's connected and

Speaker:

it's always being updated and

Speaker:

evergreen, why not actually

Speaker:

shift the business model to an

Speaker:

as-a-service business model?"

Speaker:

That's a little bit of context.

Speaker:

Then if you ask, "Who has done

Speaker:

this?" I often say to product

Speaker:

companies, you might think

Speaker:

software companies are a little

Speaker:

different than you, but remember,

Speaker:

software used to be sold as a CD-

Speaker:

ROM and sent in a box. The

Speaker:

software industry has almost

Speaker:

completely pivoted to software

Speaker:

as a service in the last five

Speaker:

years. There was the born-in-

Speaker:

the-SaaS-model companies like

Speaker:

salesforce.com, but people

Speaker:

forget that Adobe was probably

Speaker:

one of the first leaders to

Speaker:

shift from a traditional

Speaker:

software business model to a

Speaker:

SaaS business model. A lot of

Speaker:

the hardware companies are still

Speaker:

on that journey together. A few

Speaker:

examples of companies are

Speaker:

interesting. Apple still makes

Speaker:

most of its revenue from selling

Speaker:

hardware, but if you look now,

Speaker:

they have a 50 billion-dollar-

Speaker:

plus services business. They've

Speaker:

taken that platform and now you

Speaker:

have Apple Music, Apple Cloud,

Speaker:

Apple TV. You see a lot of

Speaker:

hardware companies trying to

Speaker:

emulate that. We could probably

Speaker:

get in a few more examples as we

Speaker:

go through, but that's my simple

Speaker:

overview answer.

Speaker:

What do you think that the

Speaker:

product companies can learn from

Speaker:

the software playbook on some of

Speaker:

the examples that you provided

Speaker:

of traditional software

Speaker:

companies like maybe the Adobes

Speaker:

of the world or the Microsofts

Speaker:

of the world successfully

Speaker:

transforming? How do you bring

Speaker:

that to light in the products

Speaker:

that are trying to transition to

Speaker:

as-a-service business models?

Speaker:

Basically, every hardware

Speaker:

company I know is asking this

Speaker:

question today of, "Can I and

Speaker:

should I transition to some sort

Speaker:

of as-a-service model?" Some

Speaker:

people call it device as a

Speaker:

service, hardware as a service,

Speaker:

infrastructure as a service.

Speaker:

There's different flavors of

Speaker:

that business model ship. Every

Speaker:

CEO I know is asking that

Speaker:

question. Again, why? One is

Speaker:

because it's technically

Speaker:

possible, as I said before, but

Speaker:

two, Wall Street rewards that

Speaker:

shift that this recurring

Speaker:

revenue business model results

Speaker:

in much higher valuations and

Speaker:

much more durability of revenue.

Speaker:

The starting point I often say

Speaker:

is this is not a small little

Speaker:

tweak to your business. It is a

Speaker:

fundamental transformation of

Speaker:

your business model, and it

Speaker:

needs to be board and CEO-

Speaker:

sponsored, and you need to think

Speaker:

holistically, because it impacts

Speaker:

every single process. It

Speaker:

impacts how you develop products,

Speaker:

how you market them, how you

Speaker:

sell them, how you service them.

Speaker:

In particular, the software

Speaker:

industry did a good job of

Speaker:

creating this whole idea of

Speaker:

customer success to say, "It's

Speaker:

not a one-time sale. I now need

Speaker:

people who actually think about

Speaker:

driving adoption and usage of

Speaker:

the as-a-service business model."

Speaker:

As a simple example, that

Speaker:

function doesn't exist in a

Speaker:

hardware company. There's no

Speaker:

such function that says once you

Speaker:

sell a product, I think about

Speaker:

driving usage and adoption

Speaker:

and the customer

Speaker:

success with that product over

Speaker:

time. At the simple level, I

Speaker:

say it needs to be a board and

Speaker:

CEO-sponsored transformation. It

Speaker:

needs to be holistic end to end.

Speaker:

I know maybe Vik could comment

Speaker:

on that. I know you're working

Speaker:

with one of your clients that

Speaker:

are pretty closely on that shift

Speaker:

in business model.

Speaker:

To add to what Dave mentioned,

Speaker:

there are a couple of other

Speaker:

things that need to be learned.

Speaker:

As you make that pivot from a

Speaker:

product to a platform as a

Speaker:

service or as-a-service

Speaker:

offerings, basically, you need

Speaker:

to be also thinking about the

Speaker:

agile principle that the

Speaker:

software industry has grown into,

Speaker:

especially for your architecture.

Speaker:

You need to make sure you're

Speaker:

doing agile development, because

Speaker:

typically, these product

Speaker:

companies are very much of

Speaker:

engineering focus where you need

Speaker:

to get end-to-end down in a very

Speaker:

waterfall fashion. Bring that

Speaker:

agile principles in. The second

Speaker:

thing is Dave was talking about

Speaker:

the transformation. You think

Speaker:

about it's full cultural

Speaker:

transformation, because today,

Speaker:

I'm selling a widget that is

Speaker:

hundreds of thousands or

Speaker:

millions of dollars and I pay my

Speaker:

Salesforce commission based on

Speaker:

that. Now, I'm asking people to

Speaker:

have a subscription which is

Speaker:

maybe only a few 100 a month or

Speaker:

a few $1,000 a month. You're

Speaker:

changing the mindset. Showing

Speaker:

people the value that that's

Speaker:

going to bring, the pivot that

Speaker:

is going to happen, that's

Speaker:

another principle that need to

Speaker:

be brought in. The third thing

Speaker:

is that this is a dual dynamic.

Speaker:

If you look at product forward,

Speaker:

what features of your product

Speaker:

are going to enable the success

Speaker:

for the customer, what value

Speaker:

they're going to drive? Market

Speaker:

backward, what is the word the

Speaker:

market is looking for? Staying

Speaker:

close to your customers and

Speaker:

making sure you are constantly

Speaker:

innovating and creating features

Speaker:

in your product that the

Speaker:

customer is looking for and

Speaker:

having a closer fit of those two.

Speaker:

I feel those are some of the

Speaker:

other things that, from a

Speaker:

software industry, that product

Speaker:

companies should be adopting.

Speaker:

I know, Vik, you've worked with

Speaker:

many companies that have gone

Speaker:

beyond thinking about how to

Speaker:

shift software to as-a-service

Speaker:

or recurring, and even beyond

Speaker:

products. How do businesses

Speaker:

think about, let's say, bundling

Speaker:

product services and other value

Speaker:

points to drive this recurring

Speaker:

business model strategy?

Speaker:

Absolutely. There are two

Speaker:

mindsets that you need to be

Speaker:

aware of as the companies are

Speaker:

making that pivot. First and

Speaker:

foremost, you already have a

Speaker:

customer base where you're

Speaker:

selling product very

Speaker:

successfully. From that

Speaker:

customer base, there are some

Speaker:

early adopters who want to be in

Speaker:

the front end and who want to be

Speaker:

with the cutting edge of the new

Speaker:

innovation that you are bringing.

Speaker:

Take those customers on that

Speaker:

journey with you, bring them to

Speaker:

co-innovate with you, help them

Speaker:

tell you what they're really

Speaker:

looking for and how you can make

Speaker:

their life better. The whole

Speaker:

concept of customer experience

Speaker:

becomes even more amplified.

Speaker:

It's all about customer

Speaker:

experience. Without driving that

Speaker:

better customer experience, you

Speaker:

cannot create a product that is

Speaker:

going to be a hit in the market.

Speaker:

The second thing to look at is

Speaker:

look at your product and look at

Speaker:

where the industry is headed.

Speaker:

Can I move into adjacencies? Can

Speaker:

I move into adjacent industries?

Speaker:

If you don't move it, someone

Speaker:

else will do that, because your

Speaker:

product will become as a source

Speaker:

of what happened to some of the

Speaker:

telcos. It's like they've had

Speaker:

what they call the fiber, but

Speaker:

it's a dumb pipe, because it's

Speaker:

just used for the data. There

Speaker:

were companies who were coming

Speaker:

and building OTT platforms on

Speaker:

top of that, or plugging

Speaker:

applications in that can drive

Speaker:

the benefits. You want to have

Speaker:

incentivized people to innovate

Speaker:

and come into your architecture

Speaker:

and innovate with you and layer

Speaker:

on top of your platform while

Speaker:

making sure that you're also on

Speaker:

the cutting edge. You're not

Speaker:

leaving it all for others to

Speaker:

come in and capture that market

Speaker:

share. You want to pick some

Speaker:

spots, and then you want to open

Speaker:

up other spots for the ecosystem

Speaker:

to come in and innovate with you.

Speaker:

In your work at Accenture, you

Speaker:

obviously consult to some of the

Speaker:

largest organizations in the

Speaker:

world about their transformation.

Speaker:

As we saw with the as-a-service

Speaker:

software models, oftentimes, it

Speaker:

was the upstarts that figured

Speaker:

out how to thrive and become

Speaker:

large companies. When you're

Speaker:

looking at the next cohort of

Speaker:

companies that are trying to

Speaker:

transition, how do you advise

Speaker:

them on effectively making this

Speaker:

transformation, recognizing all

Speaker:

the restrictions in their old

Speaker:

way of doing things, but also

Speaker:

recognizing that they have a

Speaker:

great brand? Where do they start

Speaker:

from an organizational

Speaker:

perspective?

Speaker:

I'll start, and Dave has a lot

Speaker:

of experience in this as well.

Speaker:

I'd love Dave to build on this

Speaker:

thing. First of all, a lot of

Speaker:

the clients at this point are

Speaker:

like transformation-fatigued out

Speaker:

at this point, because

Speaker:

everything is a transformation.

Speaker:

Imagine digital coming at a

Speaker:

million miles an hour at them,

Speaker:

then the whole need to look for

Speaker:

new revenue models. Companies

Speaker:

which are doing an agile

Speaker:

approach in a way that, "OK, I'm

Speaker:

going to pick a couple of

Speaker:

products. I'm going to test them

Speaker:

in the market. I'm going to

Speaker:

scale the success of that, and

Speaker:

I'm going to go after in a

Speaker:

bigger way," that's number one.

Speaker:

Second is, from a cultural

Speaker:

perspective, you have to act

Speaker:

like a start-up while making

Speaker:

sure that you are still a large

Speaker:

organization. Let me explain

Speaker:

what I mean by that. You need

Speaker:

to have innovation and you need

Speaker:

to have people incentivized to

Speaker:

fail fast, but you also need to

Speaker:

encourage people to use the

Speaker:

infrastructure of the large

Speaker:

organization that has been set

Speaker:

up. In a start-up, you don't

Speaker:

have all that infrastructure.

Speaker:

You have a strong customer base

Speaker:

today. Don't try to go find new

Speaker:

customer base, leverage the

Speaker:

existing customer base. You have

Speaker:

the back office that is already

Speaker:

there set up. Don't try to

Speaker:

recreate new back office,

Speaker:

leverage what you have.

Speaker:

Similarly, you have the

Speaker:

relationships that are there, so

Speaker:

leverage that. I feel that

Speaker:

that's the approach that has to

Speaker:

be followed. Don't try to do

Speaker:

with a big bang. Rather, do an

Speaker:

incremental so you can drive

Speaker:

that success.

Speaker:

This is a hard question

Speaker:

and it varies a little bit by

Speaker:

company. The core question to me

Speaker:

is, is your existing core

Speaker:

business going to be completely

Speaker:

disrupted by this shift to as-a-

Speaker:

service in a major way, or is

Speaker:

it going to be slow and gradual?

Speaker:

Or, is there going to be a

Speaker:

segment of the customer

Speaker:

population that is interested in

Speaker:

this so that you could go a

Speaker:

little more slowly, if you will?

Speaker:

It's certainly much easier if

Speaker:

you could say, "OK, I got this

Speaker:

core business. It's going to

Speaker:

continue running. It's going to

Speaker:

generate cash, while I could

Speaker:

build a side business or a new

Speaker:

co-model to offer new types of

Speaker:

as-a-service business models to

Speaker:

my installed base customer." I

Speaker:

see a lot of that. "OK, my core

Speaker:

business is my core business,

Speaker:

but I'm going to try to add on.

Speaker:

I'm going to create a new

Speaker:

revenue stream by creating some

Speaker:

new digital services or digital

Speaker:

service models that complement

Speaker:

that." If you could do that,

Speaker:

that's by far the best. The

Speaker:

reality is there's some

Speaker:

businesses that are going to

Speaker:

completely shift. If you don't

Speaker:

say, "OK, this is how my model

Speaker:

is shifting and I'm all in,"

Speaker:

that's the core question. Do you

Speaker:

need to, in certain product

Speaker:

segments, say, "I'm all in

Speaker:

and this is the future

Speaker:

of my business"? At least in

Speaker:

the software industry,

Speaker:

eventually, the answer was

Speaker:

you're all in. You're all in on

Speaker:

SaaS and the old shrink-wrapped

Speaker:

software on a CD-ROM in a box is,

Speaker:

in many cases, gone, or

Speaker:

on the way to being gone.

Speaker:

You've got to ask yourself that

Speaker:

question. "Is this something

Speaker:

that can compliment and my core

Speaker:

business is fine from there 5 or

Speaker:

10 years, or is this really

Speaker:

something that's going to cause

Speaker:

me to have to actually

Speaker:

completely flip the switch?"

Speaker:

What are some examples in the

Speaker:

product economy that you think

Speaker:

are well-suited to go all in?

Speaker:

I'm going to give you a couple

Speaker:

of examples. It hasn't quite

Speaker:

flipped yet, but the automotive

Speaker:

industry is getting close to

Speaker:

that world. You say Tesla has

Speaker:

proven what is a car. A car is

Speaker:

basically a computing platform

Speaker:

and software with four

Speaker:

wheels on it, in the sense that

Speaker:

a Tesla car and others like it

Speaker:

are very much an evergreen

Speaker:

platform that's continually

Speaker:

upgraded and updated. The

Speaker:

reality is the Tesla car that

Speaker:

you have today is a better car

Speaker:

than three years ago. In the

Speaker:

history of the world, that has

Speaker:

never been true. If you

Speaker:

bought a product three years

Speaker:

later, is it a better product?

Speaker:

It's only when you can have this,

Speaker:

what I like to call an evergreen,

Speaker:

meaning it's a continually

Speaker:

upgradeable platform that you

Speaker:

can improve features and

Speaker:

functionality over time. You're

Speaker:

starting to see this world

Speaker:

already, where people like Tesla

Speaker:

are saying, "Well, I'm taking

Speaker:

the first baby steps, so I'm

Speaker:

going to charge you for upgrades

Speaker:

so you want to pay for

Speaker:

autonomous driving. That's more

Speaker:

of an upgrade package." They,

Speaker:

and others, are very much

Speaker:

talking about, "Well, why don't

Speaker:

I move all the way to an as-a-

Speaker:

service model for access to

Speaker:

vehicles at any given time?"

Speaker:

That's one interesting area that

Speaker:

everyone understands. The PC

Speaker:

industry might be on the verge

Speaker:

of making this shift. A lot of

Speaker:

the laptop companies are

Speaker:

basically saying, "Well, you're

Speaker:

going to upgrade this product

Speaker:

every three years anyway, so

Speaker:

why not try to find

Speaker:

some ways to make this an

Speaker:

evergreen as-a-service business

Speaker:

model?" I do believe there's

Speaker:

going to be a number of segments

Speaker:

that will, 5 or 10 years from

Speaker:

now, flip a switch, and then the

Speaker:

question is, is it going to be

Speaker:

happening in a 2-year window, or

Speaker:

is it going to take 5 or 10

Speaker:

years in order for the switch to

Speaker:

fully flip?

Speaker:

Let me build on what Dave said,

Speaker:

give another example, which is

Speaker:

around the concept of software-

Speaker:

defined hardware upgrades. I

Speaker:

have a Tesla, and each month, I

Speaker:

get a new feature, which almost

Speaker:

makes it like I'm getting a new

Speaker:

car. Imagine someone who wants

Speaker:

to get a new experience in the

Speaker:

car and you have to go in, and I

Speaker:

got to change the seats, and I

Speaker:

got to get this. Everything is

Speaker:

an upgrade here. A lot of these

Speaker:

upgrades are being constantly

Speaker:

pushed out to the customers.

Speaker:

Now, that almost creates the

Speaker:

newness of the product and keeps

Speaker:

that hook in on the customer.

Speaker:

The day is not far for -- I know

Speaker:

some of the car companies are

Speaker:

already trying that -- car as a

Speaker:

service, where each six months,

Speaker:

each year, you can go and drive

Speaker:

in a new car. Obviously, it's

Speaker:

expensive, but if that's the

Speaker:

lifestyle you want, the option

Speaker:

is available.

Speaker:

Fantastic examples and ones that

Speaker:

everyone can relate to. What

Speaker:

I've seen from interacting with

Speaker:

a lot of our clients is that in

Speaker:

order to drive these all-in

Speaker:

transformations, it takes more

Speaker:

than just the technology. It

Speaker:

takes a cultural shift. What are

Speaker:

the characteristics that you've

Speaker:

seen in leaders who have been

Speaker:

successful at driving all-in

Speaker:

change?

Speaker:

First, it needs to start with

Speaker:

the recognition of what you just

Speaker:

said. This requires not only a

Speaker:

business model transformation

Speaker:

but a cultural transformation.

Speaker:

The reality is traditional,

Speaker:

particularly product hardware,

Speaker:

companies have culture and

Speaker:

processes that were built 20 or

Speaker:

30 years ago for a different

Speaker:

world. They were built for very

Speaker:

much a... I launch a new

Speaker:

product once a year. It's a

Speaker:

transactional sale. I sell it to

Speaker:

a distributor or to a retailer.

Speaker:

Then maybe I have a warranty

Speaker:

card that tells me who my

Speaker:

customer is, but I don't really

Speaker:

have any ongoing relationship,

Speaker:

in a meaningful way, with that

Speaker:

customer. To actually adopt and

Speaker:

say, "I now need to actually

Speaker:

have the mentality of a services

Speaker:

company," to say that the

Speaker:

product is just a way to create

Speaker:

a footprint to facilitate an

Speaker:

ongoing services relationship is

Speaker:

a dramatic cultural shift.

Speaker:

Trying to get all the

Speaker:

organizations to actually

Speaker:

understand and be metric-ed on

Speaker:

things like adoption, not just

Speaker:

customer satisfaction but

Speaker:

adoption and usage of the

Speaker:

features of the platform.

Speaker:

That's an example, again, I

Speaker:

think you can get some

Speaker:

inspiration from the software

Speaker:

industry to say, "Hey, I'm

Speaker:

actually measuring my people and

Speaker:

creating some of the

Speaker:

compensation and the visible

Speaker:

metrics tied to usage and

Speaker:

adoption and advocacy for the

Speaker:

platform." That is just a

Speaker:

massive shift. It's just not

Speaker:

something that traditional...

Speaker:

Product companies' culture is

Speaker:

just not geared that way.

Speaker:

They're geared to design a

Speaker:

product and launch it and then

Speaker:

move on to the next one.

Speaker:

Definitely, this all-in decision

Speaker:

is huge. It requires a cultural

Speaker:

shift, a transformation, a

Speaker:

business model trend. You have

Speaker:

to go all in. Going partial in

Speaker:

on this strategy could create

Speaker:

friction, confusion. What's the

Speaker:

balance of saying, "OK, we have

Speaker:

to do this. We have to go all in.

Speaker:

We have to go fast," versus

Speaker:

letting them take their time and

Speaker:

overthink it? Then three years

Speaker:

go by, five years go by. A

Speaker:

startup is eating their lunch.

Speaker:

We as consultants have to

Speaker:

recognize that the pace at which

Speaker:

we move is actually much faster

Speaker:

than the pace at which our

Speaker:

clients want to move. You have

Speaker:

to lay it out for them and then

Speaker:

let them make the decision.

Speaker:

What happens is when they make

Speaker:

the decision with all the data

Speaker:

that you have given and you

Speaker:

guide them through their

Speaker:

decision, it's a better decision

Speaker:

versus a decision that gets

Speaker:

forced on them by even their own

Speaker:

leadership. The leadership buys

Speaker:

in. The CEO, let's say, buys in.

Speaker:

The organization doesn't buy in.

Speaker:

To some aspect, you have to have

Speaker:

the right deliberation to get

Speaker:

that right consensus. Then the

Speaker:

leadership goes back into the

Speaker:

all-in. Once you're on this

Speaker:

journey, you're all in. You have

Speaker:

to stay patient and you have to

Speaker:

stay persistent on this journey.

Speaker:

You can't just turn around in

Speaker:

six months and say these things

Speaker:

are not happening fast enough.

Speaker:

To turn around a ship, it takes

Speaker:

time, versus like turn around a

Speaker:

car.

Speaker:

I feel this trade-off between

Speaker:

speed and also management of

Speaker:

expectations. One of the things

Speaker:

that I found is that at a bigger

Speaker:

organization, people who are

Speaker:

working on an innovation project

Speaker:

do need quick wins to build or

Speaker:

showcase progress, but at the

Speaker:

same time need the support from

Speaker:

the larger organization in order

Speaker:

to adopt it in a reasonable

Speaker:

timeframe. How do you balance

Speaker:

this need for speed with the

Speaker:

reality of managing expectations

Speaker:

to drive overall transformation?

Speaker:

First, I'd say that it's not

Speaker:

easy, and is also linked to this

Speaker:

comment before. Is this whole

Speaker:

market going to flip a switch,

Speaker:

or is this going to tackle a

Speaker:

segment of the market? If the

Speaker:

whole market flips a switch, the

Speaker:

actual P&L and cash flow of a

Speaker:

company has a dramatic impact.

Speaker:

The CFO and the CEO need to

Speaker:

think really hard to manage Wall

Speaker:

Street's expectations and the

Speaker:

employee base expectations. The

Speaker:

transition period is going to be

Speaker:

very painful, because you

Speaker:

actually are going to have

Speaker:

revenue go down potentially for

Speaker:

a period. Instead of just

Speaker:

selling a product for a thousand,

Speaker:

as Vik said, you're going to

Speaker:

sell in as-a-service model and

Speaker:

next year's revenue is going to

Speaker:

be $100. That transition period

Speaker:

is pretty painful. If you think

Speaker:

you need to do it all and switch,

Speaker:

you need to actually have the

Speaker:

right clarity of messaging to

Speaker:

all stakeholders, to Wall Street,

Speaker:

and to your employees and make

Speaker:

sure that you understand that

Speaker:

transition period is going to be

Speaker:

a challenge. Even if it's the

Speaker:

second model, which says I could

Speaker:

start with a segment of the

Speaker:

customer, here, a great example

Speaker:

is light bulbs. I always joke if

Speaker:

you can think of one of the

Speaker:

world's dumbest products

Speaker:

historically, it's a light bulb.

Speaker:

It's a piece of glass with a

Speaker:

filament inside. There is not

Speaker:

much to a light bulb. Today, if

Speaker:

you look at a smart, connected

Speaker:

light, I talk about it in the

Speaker:

book I wrote around Signify's

Speaker:

example, the old Philips

Speaker:

Lighting, where they created the

Speaker:

Hue platform. It's an LED light

Speaker:

that's based on semiconductor

Speaker:

technology, but you can control

Speaker:

it and access it remotely via

Speaker:

your smartphone. That actually

Speaker:

ends up being a segment of the

Speaker:

population. Say there's a

Speaker:

segment that's willing to buy

Speaker:

this higher-end, higher-

Speaker:

functionality smart, connected

Speaker:

lighting, even then, in order to

Speaker:

build that, you need to ring-

Speaker:

fence significant investment

Speaker:

dollars to say this may take a

Speaker:

while to build this. How do I

Speaker:

create that investment envelope

Speaker:

with a commitment to protect

Speaker:

that investment envelope for a

Speaker:

multiyear period in order to

Speaker:

build that business? There is a

Speaker:

two-speed model. There's the

Speaker:

flip the switch version and

Speaker:

there's the, "Hey, I can

Speaker:

actually have a complementary

Speaker:

new business that is going to

Speaker:

lower my financial performance

Speaker:

in the short term, so I

Speaker:

need to protect it. It has the

Speaker:

potential of actually being

Speaker:

significantly more profitable in

Speaker:

the long term." It's a very

Speaker:

hard balance to make. It's super

Speaker:

important to be very explicit in

Speaker:

your messaging and in your

Speaker:

financial planning.

Speaker:

We've talked about the

Speaker:

opportunity to go all in on as-a-

Speaker:

service business models. We've

Speaker:

talked about the need for

Speaker:

cultural change and the

Speaker:

leadership characteristics and

Speaker:

dynamics to ensure that that

Speaker:

change can be successful and the

Speaker:

way to manage expectations of

Speaker:

the teams. Let's take a few

Speaker:

minutes to double-click on the

Speaker:

technology. As a product company

Speaker:

is looking to shift to an as-a-

Speaker:

service model, there's obviously

Speaker:

a whole new tech stack that can

Speaker:

enable the commerce, and the

Speaker:

metering and monitoring, and

Speaker:

subscription enablement, and the

Speaker:

user interface, and the

Speaker:

ecosystem. Can you speak to

Speaker:

some of the challenges that a

Speaker:

business might have on sourcing

Speaker:

this technology and getting

Speaker:

going with adopting new

Speaker:

technology to make this shift?

Speaker:

First, what you just said is

Speaker:

absolutely true, that underlying

Speaker:

technology platforms that

Speaker:

product companies have built

Speaker:

were built 10, 20, 30 years ago

Speaker:

for a transactional product sale.

Speaker:

As they've launched,

Speaker:

particularly if they launched

Speaker:

more of a skunkworks or pilot

Speaker:

effort around as a service,

Speaker:

they used some bubble

Speaker:

gum and mailing wax to

Speaker:

enable it. The reality is they

Speaker:

can't do many, many things.

Speaker:

They don't have systems that

Speaker:

allow you to have a customer

Speaker:

self-configure an as-a-service

Speaker:

solution. You go in, you want to

Speaker:

buy a product, you want to pick

Speaker:

which features and

Speaker:

functionalities that you want in

Speaker:

an as-a-service solution and

Speaker:

configure it and buy it directly.

Speaker:

They don't have that. They

Speaker:

don't have the ability to track

Speaker:

the entitlements to say, "Well,

Speaker:

OK, this customer bought

Speaker:

something with certain access,

Speaker:

service entitlements," which is

Speaker:

quite common in the software

Speaker:

industry. This idea doesn't

Speaker:

exist. What is the

Speaker:

entitlement rights? The notion

Speaker:

of doing ongoing monitoring,

Speaker:

yeah, sure. Maybe they did some

Speaker:

break/fix monitoring, but they

Speaker:

didn't track usage and adoption.

Speaker:

How are you now tracking much

Speaker:

more larger amounts of data from

Speaker:

the installed base to understand

Speaker:

the usage and adoption around it?

Speaker:

It's a pretty massive change.

Speaker:

That's why we see a lot of

Speaker:

clients right now saying, "OK,

Speaker:

if this is going to be the

Speaker:

future of our company, we now

Speaker:

need to do an end-to-end

Speaker:

business process and technology

Speaker:

architecture review and yes,

Speaker:

basically come up with a

Speaker:

completely new technology stack,

Speaker:

ideally, that supports both the

Speaker:

old business and the new

Speaker:

business." The old models

Speaker:

aren't going to go away, so you

Speaker:

can't easily afford two separate

Speaker:

sets of IT systems and

Speaker:

technology platforms. How do you

Speaker:

think through your core systems

Speaker:

to enable traditional product

Speaker:

sales, standalone services sales,

Speaker:

as-a-service sales, other types

Speaker:

of subscription business models?

Speaker:

It's possible, but it's a lot of

Speaker:

work. I'm spending a

Speaker:

lot of time with several clients

Speaker:

right now plotting out that

Speaker:

technology architecture of the

Speaker:

future.

Speaker:

The only thing I would add to

Speaker:

what Dave said is that if you

Speaker:

have a solution in the market

Speaker:

that is readily available, go

Speaker:

with that, rather than try to

Speaker:

create a solution on your own.

Speaker:

Or, when given a choice, go with

Speaker:

the out-of-the-box solution

Speaker:

versus trying to customize.

Speaker:

Right now, there are several

Speaker:

solutions available for the back

Speaker:

office as well as some of the

Speaker:

capabilities you need, leverage

Speaker:

them. That's the only advice I

Speaker:

give to the clients.

Speaker:

When you're thinking of a client

Speaker:

and how they picked, Vik, to

Speaker:

your point, an effective best of

Speaker:

breed out-of-the-box technology,

Speaker:

how do you help them assess if

Speaker:

their traditional IT stack can

Speaker:

map to that new stack and how

Speaker:

that works?

Speaker:

I'm doing this right now

Speaker:

with a client, and one

Speaker:

of the things we're doing is

Speaker:

forcing them to think through 15

Speaker:

or 20 different use cases or

Speaker:

user stories of the future.

Speaker:

Probably, 10 or 12 of them exist

Speaker:

today. They don't necessarily

Speaker:

exist in this client, but we're

Speaker:

saying, "OK, there's many

Speaker:

different flavors of as a

Speaker:

service." Forcing them

Speaker:

to think through, what is the

Speaker:

evolution of all the different

Speaker:

business models and permutations

Speaker:

of business models that you

Speaker:

could imagine offering in the

Speaker:

future so that you could future-

Speaker:

proof? Often, these are pretty

Speaker:

big-ticket investments. You're

Speaker:

probably easily sometimes

Speaker:

talking $100 million or more for

Speaker:

a big Fortune 500 or Global 2000-

Speaker:

type company in order to enable

Speaker:

that tech stack in the future.

Speaker:

You want to future-proof the

Speaker:

investment. In my mind, I

Speaker:

always say let's start with,

Speaker:

what's the evolution of the

Speaker:

customer experience you want?

Speaker:

Number one. Two, what are the

Speaker:

different business models? As I

Speaker:

said, there could be 15 or 20

Speaker:

different flavors of those

Speaker:

business models. Then you can

Speaker:

pressure-test the architecture

Speaker:

against that. What architecture

Speaker:

choices I make give me the

Speaker:

flexibility to evolve my

Speaker:

offerings and my business models

Speaker:

over time? Some stack choices

Speaker:

are great for a narrow, one

Speaker:

business model, and if you're

Speaker:

quite confident that your future

Speaker:

looks exactly like this, you

Speaker:

might make one set of choices,

Speaker:

but if you're uncertain about

Speaker:

how this market is going to

Speaker:

evolve, then you want a more

Speaker:

flexible architecture that's

Speaker:

allowing you that flexibility

Speaker:

for the future.

Speaker:

The only thing I would add is

Speaker:

that when we are going through

Speaker:

the options, it's always good to

Speaker:

start with those use cases and

Speaker:

do end-to-end process so you can

Speaker:

see how the process actually

Speaker:

works and where the gaps are,

Speaker:

and then you scale, versus

Speaker:

trying to do everything together.

Speaker:

Pick a use case, follow the end-

Speaker:

to-end process, and that will

Speaker:

actually help you work out the

Speaker:

kinks in the process, and then

Speaker:

go to the next one, and the next

Speaker:

one.

Speaker:

Just to bring the conversation

Speaker:

back full circle, Vik, one of

Speaker:

the things you highlighted early

Speaker:

in the conversation was around

Speaker:

the importance of product

Speaker:

companies becoming digitized and

Speaker:

connected, and then ecosystems

Speaker:

being built on top of them. I

Speaker:

recognize that in the

Speaker:

traditional economy, product

Speaker:

companies furiously competed

Speaker:

based on capability and feature

Speaker:

set, and it was very hard to

Speaker:

differentiate. Whereas today, it

Speaker:

seems like companies big and

Speaker:

small can collaborate, and

Speaker:

partner, and enable different

Speaker:

components of the ecosystem.

Speaker:

Would love to get your thoughts

Speaker:

on coopetition as a future of

Speaker:

business and how that impacts

Speaker:

the way businesses seek to

Speaker:

compete.

Speaker:

When I started my career 20-plus

Speaker:

years ago, the thing used to be

Speaker:

that in the next few years, it's

Speaker:

not going to be companies

Speaker:

competing with each other,

Speaker:

rather, supply chains of

Speaker:

companies competing with each

Speaker:

other. The last four or five

Speaker:

years, I've started to say that

Speaker:

it's not the supply chains

Speaker:

anymore. It's the ecosystem of

Speaker:

the...how do you build the

Speaker:

ecosystem around you and how do

Speaker:

you leverage that to drive your

Speaker:

growth and transform, is going

Speaker:

to define who is going to win.

Speaker:

I'm a firm believer that you got

Speaker:

to build your ecosystem. You got

Speaker:

to pick the right partners, and

Speaker:

then you got to go all in,

Speaker:

whether it's to build the

Speaker:

product, whether it's to scale,

Speaker:

or whether it's to drive growth

Speaker:

in the market. I think that is

Speaker:

here to stay, and we see the

Speaker:

various elements of that. If

Speaker:

you look at Microsoft, Microsoft

Speaker:

is actually providing software

Speaker:

to Dell and HP. On the same

Speaker:

token, Microsoft also has the

Speaker:

product that competes with what

Speaker:

Dell and HP have to offer. I

Speaker:

feel that, like you said, the

Speaker:

coopetition is here to stay.

Speaker:

You just need to continue to

Speaker:

invest in pockets which can

Speaker:

drive benefit for you and know

Speaker:

that someone is going to come up

Speaker:

with competition, whether it's

Speaker:

your ecosystem partner or

Speaker:

competition. How you continue to

Speaker:

gain and join that? That's real

Speaker:

innovation.

Speaker:

Thanks, Vik, David. This was

Speaker:

phenomenal, really great

Speaker:

insights into as-a-service

Speaker:

business models and how product

Speaker:

companies can transform. I

Speaker:

really enjoyed the conversation

Speaker:

and look forward to connecting

Speaker:

again soon. Thank you.

Speaker:

Same here. Thank you.

Speaker:

Thanks, Dan.

Speaker:

On the next episode of Decoding

Speaker:

Digital...

Speaker:

In a digital world, things are

Speaker:

infinite. The possibilities are

Speaker:

infinite. The opportunity is

Speaker:

infinite. The ability for

Speaker:

inclusion is infinite. The

Speaker:

ability to actually make money

Speaker:

is infinite.

Speaker:

Founder, chairman, and principal

Speaker:

analyst at Constellation

Speaker:

Research, Ray Wang. Thanks for

Speaker:

listening to Decoding Digital.

Speaker:

Make sure you never miss an

Speaker:

episode by subscribing to the

Speaker:

show in your favorite podcast

Speaker:

player. To learn more, visit

Speaker:

decodingdigital.com. Until next

Chapters